When I was a missionary, I served roughly half of my service under one mission president, and the second half under the other. They were both very great, but very different. I love them both a lot.

During the three years that my first mission president presided, he only sent two missionaries home for disciplinary reasons- and those two were situations in which that was the only reasonable outcome. For the rest- his philosophy was basically "You screwed up! It's time to repent. The next few months are going to be tough. I'm going to be watching you like a hawk- it's going to be hell. But if you walk the straight and narrow, you can serve the rest of your mission, and go home with an honorable release."

My second mission president was very different. Just in the first six months, he sent over a dozen missionaries home- some for being lazy, some for listening to the radio or watching TV. He sent one guy home for going over to some sister missionaries apartment, and throwing water balloons at the sisters.

I still have a ton of friends from my mission- including 4 who were sent home. 3 of them have nothing to do with the church. Being sent home was an ENORMOUS blow in their lives, and affected their sense of self-worth, and made a huge impact in the trajectory of their lives.

I *totally* get that running a mission is TOTALLY different than running an FBS football team- even a team affiliated with a religious school. Drastically different. As a missionary, you're literally an advocate and representative of the Lord. As a football player... you're a football player- and it's not like your performance on the field has ANY eternal ramifications.

That being said- I hope that if it's at all possible for Neil to come back- he can, and he does. EVERYBODY screws up, and there is something inspiring when someone who is knocked in the dirt is able to get back up again. And for HIS sake, this doesn't have to define him. It can actually refine him, and make him a better man.



As an aside, both mission presidents are graduates, and huge fans of BYU. Ironically, one was VP of Student Life at BYU, and the other was CEO of Franklin Covey- although, I'm not going to say which was which.